16 January 2012 11:05 AM

Fancy watching the climax of this year’s Heineken Cup pool stages from the best seat in the house?

Once again Scrum’s the word has teamed up with EDF Energy, the UK’s largest producer of low carbon electricity, to offer you the chance to win a pair of tickets to the match of your choice in the final round of the Heineken Cup pool stages.

Simply pick your game and send your name, address and phone number to luke.benedict@dailymail.co.uk before midday Wednesday, January 18. Your choice is between:

Bath v Glasgow Warriors at The Rec

Leicester Tigers v Aironi Rugby at Welford Road

Northampton Saints v Munster Rugby at Stadium: MK

Cardiff Blues v Racing Metro at Cardiff City Stadium

Edinburgh Rugby v London Irish at Murrayfield

EDF Energy is part of EDF Group. EDF Group are proud to partner the prestigious Heineken Cup, in which the best sides in Europe will battle it out for a place at the final in Twickenham in 2012.

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09 January 2012 12:06 PM

Fancy winning tickets to a fifth round Heineken Cup match of your choice? Then you've come to the right place ...

Scrum’s the word has teamed up with EDF Energy, the UK’s largest producer of low carbon electricity, to offer you the chance to win a pair of tickets to the match of your choice in Heineken Cup Round 5.

Simply pick your game and send your name, address and phone number to luke.benedict@dailymail.co.uk before midday Wednesday, January 11. Your choice is between:

Ospreys v Benetton Treviso at Liberty Stadium

Scarlets v Northampton Saints at Parc y Scarlets

London Irish v Cardiff Blues at Madejski Stadium

Harlequins v Gloucester at The Stoop

Glasgow Warriors v Leinster at Firhill Arena

Saracens v Biarritz at Vicarage Road

Over to you ...

EDF Energy is part of EDF Group. EDF Group are proud to partner the prestigious Heineken Cup, in which the best sides in Europe will battle it out for a place at the final in Twickenham in 2012.

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03 January 2012 2:50 PM

Stuart Lancaster has only a few more days to decide the fate of the England rugby team. If that seems a little dramatic consider this – England chopped and changed selection for the three and a half years that preceded autumn’s little outing to New Zealand and their biggest achievement was a cracking night out in Queenstown.

Lancaster’s title of ‘interim’ coach, and his relative anonymity, may diminish the pressure on his shoulders to a certain degree but England still need their impermanent coach to offer a permanent solution.

The RFU are yet to find their ‘big name’ to permanently fill Martin Johnson’s size 14s but they may have already stumbled on their big answer. The 30-odd names listed in the first Elite Player Squad to follow such an ugly World Cup – and the even uglier subsequent Civil War – will define New England.

It really is time for a spring clean. Dare I say it, and the postman is probably groaning now, but results at the 2012 Six Nations do not matter. Performance is everything.

The four-year countdown to Twickenham’s 2015 World Cup final is officially ticking and that home event has to be the priority. Test combinations, trust in talent, experiment in training, try anything this year – just don’t seek to win matches by three points courtesy of a bulldozing scrum, brave defence and a lot of slow ball.

In many ways there is no better man for the job than Lancaster. Very few people in England can rival his knowledge of – or relationship with – the young talent at his disposal. He has a glittering trophy cabinet of England youth level and Saxon cups and anybody who has watched those sides will know they have traditionally played far more attacking rugby than the creaking senior team.

Of course, this Six Nations is only phase one of a long, slow, rebuilding project that plans to transform Twickenham back into a fortress, but this squad will also be asked to lay the foundations.

Trust in youth and play without fear should be the motto, as, just this once, there really is nothing to lose.